DOLGELLAU’S Elfyn Evans is looking to build on the solid start made in Monte Carlo as the FA World Rally Championship heads to Sweden for round two on February 13-16.

TGR-WRT began the defence of its manufacturers’ championship title with a maximum points haul and a one-two finish at January’s Rallye Monte-Carlo, where Sébastien Ogier claimed a record-extending 10th victory on the iconic season opener.

With Ogier contesting a partial schedule of rallies and not present in Sweden, it is team-mate Elfyn Evans who effectively leads the fight for the drivers’ title and will be opening the road on an event where he scored his first win with the team in 2020.

Third on the road will be Kalle Rovanperä, who took victory in Sweden in 2022. Completing the team’s manufacturer line-up is Takamoto Katsuta, who has also gone strongly in Sweden previously, while Sami Pajari represents TGR-WRT2 on his first full winter rally in Rally1 machinery.

Evans said: “Our podium in Monte Carlo was a solid start to the year and we’re looking forward to the next challenge in Sweden.

“It’s an event that’s always a lot of fun to drive with the stages being as fast as they are.

“Opening the road could make for a difficult start to the weekend if there’s a lot of fresh snow like last year.

“On the other hand, if it’s icy, it could play into our hands; we’ll be giving it our all regardless

“There’s a lot of learning to do at the start of the year about the new Hankook tyres and for Sweden it’s no different.

“So far the feeling is quite different to before and we have to try and adapt to that and get the most out of it.”

Considered the WRC’s only pure winter event, Rally Sweden holds good memories for TGR-WRT as the scene of its first ever victory back in 2017, when current Team Principal Jari-Matti Latvala was behind the wheel.

In 2022 the rally moved north to Umeå, the largest city in northern Sweden and a short trip across the Gulf of Bothnia from Finland where TGR-WRT is based.

The new location – closer to the Arctic Circle than to the capital city Stockholm – has helped ensure extreme winter conditions and also brought even faster roads.

Special studded tyres that bite into the surface make it one the quickest rallies of the season, with drivers ‘leaning’ their cars on snowbanks by the sides of the road to carry more speed through corners.

The rally starts on Thursday evening with a short ‘sprint’ stage in Umeå, which will be run again on Friday after two loops of three stages separated by a mid-day service.

Saturday’s format is similar but concludes with a double-length version of the Umeå stage – which also serves as the rally-ending Power Stage on Sunday when it follows two passes of the Västervik test.

Tezam principal Latvala said: “Rally Sweden is almost like a home rally for our team, with the kind of winter conditions that we experience in Finland.

“These are some of the most enjoyable conditions for driving a rally car.

Rallye Monte-Carlo was almost a perfect start to the season for us and we really hope to fight for the victory in Sweden as well.”